


Well I Never Really Thought That You'd Come Tonight

by incogneat_oh



Series: That One Hug Meme [16]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, batfamily, hug meme, weird families bonding weirdly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-09
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-31 03:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12673683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incogneat_oh/pseuds/incogneat_oh
Summary: For the prompt "tackle-hug".





	Well I Never Really Thought That You'd Come Tonight

The horizon is an orange-red mess, a smokey haze obscuring the skyline, and the stars that were actually  _visible_ tonight. Even so far away, Jason feels the heat of the fire, and the taste of smoke is in his throat. 

It’s nothing like his cigarettes.

Explosions are godawful at the best of times. And he’s just grateful he was a couple blocks away when the building  _did_ go up. And now there’s the distant, rushing sound of sirens over the crackle of the fire, the lingering blood-rush in his ears. 

He’s feeling… restless. Hyped on adrenaline and fear, unsure where to go. The building had been empty (almost) when he’d left, and there definitely wasn’t anyone inside when it blew. So there’s no one to help, nothing to do, but he’s not quite ready to leave the scene just yet. 

Which leaves him pacing on a nearby rooftop, and looking like an idiot. Glancing over to the fire every few seconds, to see if anything’s changed. And it hasn’t; the flames are licking at the dark sky, the smoke still a thick smudge of grey superimposed over the sky’s dark navy.

Gross.

And he hears, nearby, a cry of– triumph?– before he’s  _goddamn tackled_ , right around the middle. He’s swearing before he can even catch his balance, “ _Christ_ ,” and he staggers back a few steps, but manages not to fall on his ass. “Jesus,  _Dick_ –”

“I thought you were still in there,” Nightwing says breathlessly, arms like a damned vice around his chest. “I thought you were in there when it went up.”

And Jason, partway through trying to tug his brother  _off_ him, pauses. “You serious?”

“I didn’t see you leave,” he’s saying, half-babbling, still holding tightly, “I didn’t see you  _leave_ , little wing, what was I supposed to think?”

Jason, who has gone back to trying to escape the hug, feels his brain start to catch up to his eyes. Nightwing’s soot-stained, his suit slightly scorched (and smelling unpleasantly of burnt rubber), and– yep, he’s still holding his rebreather in one hand.

“… so you went traipsing into a  _burning building_?” he says, incredulous. Ducking his head down, to get a better look at Nightwing’s blackened, sweat-streaked face.

“Well yeah, of course,” Dick says, still too loud, too quick, and his hands are reaching up when he says, “C’mon Jay, take off the stupid helmet, would you? Just for a sec?”

And Jason puts one hand on either side of Dick’s head, fingers catching in Dick’s wind-and-sweat-tangled hair, and  _shakes_ him, like the giant, stupid, magic eight ball of a human that he is. 

“Goddamn, how fuckin’ stupid are you?”

Nightwing, finally having given up on the hug, but  _not_ on violating Jason’s personal space, has his fingers fumbling over the catches on the helmet, trying to find the release. 

He either doesn’t hear, or plain ignores the question. 

Giving up, Jason swats away his hands, and presses the hidden catch. His helmet opens with a pneumatic  _hsssssss_ , and he tugs it off one-handed. Thankful he thought to wear a domino tonight. Though the air smells worse without the filters.

And Nightwing looks up at him, face sandwiched between Jason’s hands, with unabashed relief. He says, happily enough, “Shit, little wing.”

And what the hell’s he supposed to do with that?

Cursing himself and his weakness, Jason drags the older man into a rough embrace, says, “S’okay, big bird. I got out right after you did, okay? I used the back exit.”

Dick relaxes his weight against Jason for a second, betraying his exhaustion. And it’s still so weird, to be so much taller than his big brother, to look down at the top of his head. To be so much broader than him.

“Just be careful, Jay, will you? Do you promise?”

And Jason’s nose is full of the smell of smoke-and-ash from Nightwing’s hair, when he says, “I will if you will.”

**END.**

**Author's Note:**

> Also on [tumblr.](http://incogneat-oh.tumblr.com/post/80362396546/hi-im-a-big-fan-id-like-to-see-a-drabble-of)


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